debian for me or not - gentoo, slack, freebsd
 

I'm using debian for half a year now and I like some things about it but other things I feel it misses things (or that might just be my preferred way of how things get configured etc.)

The thing I really like is APT. Now I was reading that there were more tools for other distros that do this. Portage for gentoo was given as example but at the moment I think I can't do a stage1 install cause I'm on wireless network that has to be configured with ndiswrapper first. Now it looks like slackware is my next option. I really like to compile things from source with only the options I need in it. On the other hand at times I don't have much time to search dependencies and I didn't read much about a package that does this for slackware, isn't there one or did I miss it. I hear keeping both gentoo and slack current is quite a task, is that really true? Still I think gentoo suits me most here since I'll learn a bit more and it has kernel compiling in the stage1 installation procedure (thinking about getting my PC downstairs and connect it with a cable to do the stage1 install). I can't find anything on freebsd site about package management programs but I read it was quite secure so I thought I'd just throw it in the mix as well. Besides there logo is cool :D

In debian I think at times I have unneeded packages and stuff I don't need. I'm using deborphan and debfoster but they don't seem to detect all the things I might want to delete so if there are better programs to do that in

An article I read said that debian configuration files were all in one place which is a great advantage. I noticed this myself as well. Do gentoo, slack and freebsd have the same thing.

In gentoo I know there's this thing in package management that you can set the flags in advance. Does slackware have that too or is it all compiling everything manually.

About the installation, I'd rather do a lot myself like compiling the kernel and with software. Cause in debian I have to recompile immediately after installing already.

Stability is a must to. It has to work cause I'm using it as desktop. Security is good but I can manage that myself as well. I have to learn IPtables anyway.

Is there really much to change for or did I already have the good distro for me?

well...i would suggest Slackware : it's the most pure Linux-distro.
but you gotto learn to use your keyboard for configuring.......
( far more faster than any gui, and it won't wear down your mouse :) ).

egag

FreeBSD package management
 

Well, FreeBSD has ports system, it is a tree of directories with makefiles, when you need to install program you just go to
/usr/ports, then make search=packagename or make key=packagename to find your package, then you cd to package dir (like /usr/ports/www/mozilla) and type make install. All ports are compiled from source, but dependencies and downloading is handled by makefile (gentoo portage was inspired by freebsd's ports :) ). If for some reason you would like to use precompiled package, then you type pkg_add -r packagename and that works like apt. There is over 10000 (i think) ports in ports collection.
Also for security :) I think PF is da best :P (altough ported from OpenBSD).
And file organization is very strict and simple. ports are going in /usr/local/etc, /usr/local/bin, and main system is going to /etc, /bin, altuogh I was surprised at first /home is only a symlink :D actually it is under /usr!
So in all FreeBSD is definetely worth a try, just keep in mind it is NOT linux, when dealing with it.
Hope this helps :).

Follow the Daemon, Darkleaf, follow the Daemon.. :D

BSD is the way.

Seriously though -- No one can really tell you what the best thing for you is going to be. I have a mix of all kinds of things, but the BSDs are *by far* easier to get along with than any and all Linux distros I've ever used (and yes, I've used just about all of them in one form or another). You just have to play with them and decide what you like.

I'd for sure encourage you to try one of the BSDs (Free is probably best suited to you). If for no other reason than you can learn pf instead of iptables. I thought iptables was really neat until I found pf ;)

iptables ...

/me shivers

Thanks for the very useful info! I'm not afraid of using my keyboard BTW. I usually use it anyway since I can't be bothered searching for the right package to dpkg-reconfigure. FreeBDS now sounds a lot better :)

Looks like the list is now:
-FreeBSD
-Slack
-maybe gentoo but it sounds like an awful lot of trouble bringing my computer downstairs and leave it there for a few days when it's compiling everything.

Computer downstairs
 

I doubt it would take days :) , maybe 16 hours, not much more, it took 15 hours on my Athlon (barton) 2500+ and 256 megs of ram.

Sigsev:
As of iptables, take a look at patch-o-matic, it's a complete reborn of it, :) has some features that pf does not.

Re: Computer downstairs
 

Been there done that. While I don't have a side my side list of the features of the two, pf is the best for me. It does everything I can ever imagine needing and a whole host of 'neat stuff' that I'll probably never use, but would be cool if I wanted to, not to mention it's cleaner syntax.

Re: Computer downstairs
 

You didn't know my specs :P 733 mHz so I guess it'll be a bit longer. But worth the trouble because I can tweak everything. But is it that little time before I can install ndiswrapper and continue on the wireless?

I thought I had it working when I followed the guide it even downloaded stuff when I had chrooted into gentoo. But I think it was with emerge system that the progress indicator just halted and did nothing. I didn't get any help on the gentoo forums so I guess either nobody knows it there (not likely) or that it's just that I don't have internet